“EU plan for military intervention against ‘refugee boats’ in Libya and the
Mediterranean

Today, WikiLeaks is releasing two classified EU documents, outlining the
planned military intervention against boats travelling from Libya to Italy. The
more significant of the two documents was written by the combined military
defence chiefs of the EU member states. The plan was formally approved by
representatives from all 28 countries on 18 May 2015.

Importantly, one of the documents acknowledges that ‘the political End
State [of the military intervention] is not clearly defined’ and recommends that
the European Commission issue further guidance.

The documents lay out a military operation against cross-Mediterranean
refugee transport networks and infrastructure. It details plans to conduct
military operations to destroy boats used for transporting migrants and refugees
in Libyan territory, thereby preventing them from reaching Europe. The EU member
states’ military chiefs advice is that there is a need to:

‘[draw] on the full range of surveillance, intelligence and information
capabilities available to MS [member states] and Partners, and supported by
Brussels (inter alia EEAS [European External Action Service] Single Intelligence
Analysis Capacity – SIAC)’.

The plan also acknowledges the possibility of EU military use of force
against groups such as ISIL ‘within the Libyan sovereign area’:

‘the threat to the force should be acknowledged, especially during
activities such as boarding and when operating on land or in proximity to an
unsecured coastline, or during interaction with non-seaworthy vessels. The
potential presence of hostile forces, extremists or terrorists such as Da’esh
[ISIL] should also be taken into consideration’.

The documents mark a departure from previous EU military strategy in its
overt targeting of civilian infrastructure in Libya. Numerous EU countries,
including Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, France, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands,
Romania, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom participated in NATO-led air
strikes on Libya in 2011.

Human rights organisations have called on the EU not to put the lives of
refugees and migrants at risk. The plan acknowledges that the EU risks negative
publicity ‘should loss of life be attributed, correctly or incorrectly, to
action or inaction by the EU force’. To manage this reputational risk, the
documents recommend ‘an EU information strategy from the outset’ in order to
‘facilitate expectation management’. They also acknowledge the ‘need to
calibrate military activity’ particularly within Libyan waters or ashore ‘in
order to avoid destabilising the political process by causing collateral damage,
disrupting legitimate economic activity or creating a perception of having
chosen sides’.

Boats transporting people from Libya are the main means for refugees
fleeing conflict in Syria, Eritrea, Afghanistan and the Horn of Africa to reach
safety in Europe. Since the destruction of the Libyan government in 2011 there
has been a sharp increase in the numbers of refugees travelling to Europe from
Libya. In 2014 more than 170,000 people are estimated to have crossed the
Mediterranean from Libya. In 2014, this made up 60 per cent of the entire
irregular migration into the EU.”

“Classified EU plan, approved by EU member states defence chiefs, for a
year long (at least) military operation against Mediterranean refugee transport
networks and infrastructure, including the destruction of docked boats and
operations within Libya’s territorial boundaries. The document is significant.
It sets out the intent of EU defence chiefs: the EU will deploy military force
against civilian infrastructure in Libya to stop refugee flows. Given the
previous attacks on Libya by several EU NATO members and Libya’s proven oil
reserves, the plan may lead to other military involvement in Libya. Formally,
the document is approved Military Advice from the European Union Military
Committee (EUMC) to the Political and Security Committee (PSC) on a “Draft
Crisis Management Concept for a possible CSDP operation to disrupt human
smuggling networks in the Southern Central Mediterranean”.

“This is the document of
recommendations from the Politico-Military Group (PMG) and Committee for
Civilian Aspects of Crisis Management (CIVCOM), who work with the support of the
General Secretariat of the Council in the Council of the European Union, to the
Political and Security Committee (PSC) on the “Draft Crisis Management Concept
for a possible CSDP operation to disrupt human smuggling networks in the
Southern Central Mediterranean”. On 5th May 2015 the PSC discussed a possible EU
military CSPD operation to disrupt human trafficking networks in the Southern
Central Mediterranean region, including seizure or destruction of shipping
vessels, based on a Crisis Management Concept (CMC).”